Extreme Self Protection

When we think of protecting ourselves and loved ones, great feats of physical fitness and amazing techniques come to mind. However this is only one part of your total readiness of personal protection. We all need to mentally prepare to handle any dangerous situation.

Mental Conditioning is a Core concept to surviving and winning; Mental Conditioning will program your mind and body to successfully carry you through a violent confrontation successfully. Your mind is the most powerful and dangerous weapon you have. It all depends on how you prepare it.

With no mental conditioning your mind will be in shock, in denial, as the event is happening, thinking "Why is this happening? "This isn't happening, not here". Denial kills us twice, once during the event, and if you survive, it kills us later by making us second guess ourselves, sometimes for the rest of our lives. Don't get caught in denial! Train yourself out of it using mental conditioning training! This initial shock can debilitate us, and denial costs us time, time you should be responding to the crisis. This can only be done through mental conditioning.

With Mental Conditioning you can reduce the impact of the stress shock phenomena, and imprint your response pattern on your system, for an appropriate response to the crisis.

To become more mentally prepared, the first thing we need to do is to make a Decision. That's right, make a decision that no matter what the circumstances, YOU WILL WIN! Decide right now no matter how dire the circumstances YOU WILL WIN! Don't just think about surviving, think about Winning. I am not talking about winning a competition of some kind. I am talking about the heinous situations that Mark Hatmaker discusses in his Predator Profiles, I am talking about an active killer, I am talking about a road rage incident.   I am talking about a home invasion or an abduction attempt. The Winning I am talking about could be going home with minimal injury vs. going to the hospital, or making it to the hospital emergency room vs. being abducted, or fighting through surgery to make it home vs. going to the grave. This is the winning I am talking about.

Now that you have made the decision to WIN, I will discuss the next step in mental conditioning. It is easy to do, and can be done anywhere.   When you are going about your day, play the "What If Game", or as I like to call it the "If Then Game". The "If Then Game" is a mental game where you imagine a dangerous situation" If this happens" then you imagine the best response you have available to you, "Then I will respond this way". For instance, you are at work sitting at your desk; imagine "If" someone walks in the door carrying a gun, "Then" I will RUN to THAT exit. You can "If Then" all sorts of different scenarios that fit your unique situation. Play the If Then Game right now. Stop reading and Play the If Then Game right now. Really, Do IT NOW! Be specific on the response. Take your time and think of the best response to the situation you came up with.

Now that you have an idea of how the If Then Game works, I will take it up a notch. I call the next mental exercise Crisis Rehearsal. Crisis Rehearsal is similar to the If Then Game, but much more detailed. You also will need a little more time, and a quiet place to perform this exercise correctly.

Here is how you should perform Crisis Rehearsal. Find a quiet place you can relax for about 15 minutes. Close your eyes and do some deep breathing to relax, and slow your heart rate. Crisis Rehearsal is a mental movie to develop appropriate reactions to different crisis situations. Now imagine you are watching a movie of a dangerous situation you are involved in. Be as detailed as you can. Imagine the sights and sounds, the smells. Imagine all the people that would be around. What time of day is it, day, night, evening? Is it dark, what type of lighting do you have? What are you doing there? Are you shopping, on a date, with your kids? Are you on Duty as a First Responder? Are you at work, or did you just happen to walk in on a situation? Each one of these scenario may have a different response.

Pick a response. See yourself responding appropriately.   Escape to the nearest exit, pick up or draw X weapon. Hear yourself giving verbal commands. Watch everyone's responses and act accordingly, be a part of the action. Respond right away and in a calm controlled manner. See the situation all the way to the end with you Winning!

To get the most out of this exercise you should play the same mental movie in slow motion five times. If you didn't like your response from the first movie, change it, improve it! Once you have the appropriate response, and you can visualize the entire scene, play your movie in real time five times.

Just like physical exercise, we cannot expect to perform this occasionally, and achieve lifesaving results. This needs to be part of your regular routine and done 3 to 5 times each week. When mental training is performed as described, it has a positive training effect to the individual.   Tactics and techniques become second nature and crisis rehearsal familiarizes you with the look and feel of crisis situations. Practicing Crisis Rehearsal defuses the impact of the stress shock phenomena, and imprints learned response patterns on your system, so that under stress they guide your physical actions instantly and successfully without conscious thought. Mental conditioning can help to reduce the lag time that it takes to make a decision on your response. Mental conditioning kills denial.

Mental Conditioning is only as good as the techniques and tactics you know, this should complement your physical training not replace it. Also, those of you that are in the protection profession and have limited training time, this can help make up for some of those lost training hours.

Mental Conditioning is a powerful tool to improve and enhance your physical responses to a crisis. However you must train diligently to improve. As stated in the opening of this article.

Your mind is the most powerful, and dangerous weapon you have. It all depends on how you prepare it.  

This book s

erves as a Triple Purpose Manual.

Purpose One: To provide the inside info needed to survive the oh, so fun phenomena of obstacle course racing.   

Purpose Two: It is a conditioning manual for those who want to hit the courses in peak condition. It provides the scientific skinny on our stream-lined high-intensity approach, then details all of the unique exercises we use that are course specific, and then progresses you through 66 non-repeating workouts to get and keep you primed.  

Purpose Three: It is a comprehensive manual on Flight/Evasion Skills for Real-World Combative trainers & trainees.

Among the contents include: The differences between Mud, Adventure, & Obstacle Racing, Competitive & Cooperative Mind-Sets, Military Function & Course Correlates. The extensive Techniques, Tactics, & Strategies section covers Stride Work, How to Approach Hills, How to Leap from Height and minimize Landing Load, How to Approach Electrical Hazards & Running the Gauntlet, The most Efficient ways to Climb Ropes (vertical, horizontal, and wall ropes), Tips on Climbing (everything from cargo nets to vertical walls to bouldering walls), Improving Low Crawl Efficiency, Balance Work, Hand-Over Hand Tips, and Tips for Bearing Loads for Distance.

We close with the Logistics Section which will provide tips on Clothing , Gear, Registration, and Clean-Up to make your race experience as streamlined as possible.

To snag an autographed copy for  $12.95 (S&H Included) or $22.95 International hit the button.

Mud, Guts and Glory with Standard Shipping:

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This year's Old School MMA Boot Camp will be held on Saturday and Sunday, November 16th and 17th (10 AM start both days) at Bill Whitworth's beautiful facility in Morristown, Tennessee. Here's the skinny:

• 2-days of hardcore Old School inTENS Conditioning, Boxing, Pugilism, Elbows, Knees, Leg Dives, Clinch-Work & Dirty Boxing, Par Terre Drills, Ground & Pound, and, of course, old school submissions galore.
• All material will be presented in integrated chains (strikes, submissions, and takedown material).
• Also, we know we have some folks who wanna hit but don't wanna roll (I've got your back, Mr. Covello), and some folks who wanna roll but don't wanna hit-with that in mind we offer 3 Ways to Play at this year's Camp: 1. The Whole Enchilada (striking, takedowns, and ground) 2, Striking-Only 3. Grappling-Only
• This Boot Camp is suitable for all levels of experience and/or fitness.  All we ask is that you work to the top of your own ability/limits--not anyone else's-you're always the boss.
• Gear: Mouthpiece, boxing gloves, and MMA gloves are required. 
• This is a limited attendance Boot Camp-meaning, once a slot is gone, it's gone.  We like to keep the numbers low so that we can provide individual attention.
• The pre-registered price is $120 for the 2-days. ($100 for past attendees, $75 for RAW Subscribers).
• And yes, there are discounts for traveling partners and groups. You got a crew, contact us for the discount details.
• Folks who registered for Martial Arts on the Mountain can play for the RAW Subscribers price-we must reward the hardcore, am I right?
• For those with family in tow who have better things to do than to watch you sweat, we are less than a 1/2 hour drive from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, the Dollywood Amusement Park, and shopping opportunities too numerous to count..
• For accommodations, search in the Boot Location area:  Red Dragon Martial Arts Center 284 South Daisy St.  Morristown  TN  37813  (423) 587-3755 (School) www.rdkarate.com
• For those of you flying in, your destination airport will be McGhee-Tyson in Knoxville, TN.
• Oh, as for Certification-for those who choose the Whole Enchilada we will run evals for the Combination Man Curriculum Certification.
• To register, simply contact us via email and we'll plug in your discount code to get you set up. 

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We hope to see you at one of these events--if you'd like to have us come to you, check out our Pitch An Adventure info in the side bar and if you've got some adrenaline in your neck of the woods that strikes my fancy we'll be there. 

Here's where you come in, if you'd like to host a seminar and save yourself some bucks off of the standard fees in the process--if you've got an Adventure Race in your area, a rock you think I'd like to climb, a river you think I want to raft, a hike you think I just need to take, a desert I've not run on, you get the idea--pitch your adventure and school location. If the adventure appeals and the logistics are right we offer greatly reduced fees to come to your school and play with your crew before we go play at your Adventure Pitch.

BTW--You and your crew are welcome to attend the adventure, as a matter of fact, we'll knock off even more bucks for this sort of hands-on guiding.

So, you got some adrenaline in your neck-of-the-woods and want to train? Feel free to make your pitch and we'll see what happens.